The King Raven departed from the forgotten city of Cadivus, and headed towards Anvil Gate, fighting the winds that had begun to die down. Marcus, Cole, and Baird stared down a the grey city that was now covered in locust blood, and thought of the ash statues that stood among the chaos. A sense of remorse washed over the three soldiers, a feeling that consumed them every time they had seen a place full of statues of people who never had a chance of survival. Cole saluted the city as a sign of respect, before sitting down and closing his eyes. A medic had arrived with the transportation to take care of the stranded woman who had received a long gash on her ribcage from a locust with a retro lancer. He had removed her coat that was covered in patches and her blood stained white shirt, before he began giving her stitches while she was still unconscious. Dom felt uncomfortable for the woman, who was very young looking, and covered her chest with her shirt. As he looked at her face he realized that the raging warrior who had taken on several locust with a shot gun no longer lay before him. She had turned back into a small, fragile looking girl, who looked like she hadn't eaten in days. Her ribs protruded from her body and looked very painful. From far away, she looked like a kid, but when Dom looked at her face he saw her real age showing through. She was probably in her twenties, twenty five he guessed, but the stress of the war had taken it's toll on her body. Her hair was jet black and choppy, and fell to just below her ears. She was unusually pale and looked like she was sick, a trait that wasn't found in most stranded people because they spent so much time outside. The medic carefully rolled her onto her side so he was able see her wound more clearly, making her back face toward Dom, which made him gasp. Scars were a necessary part of life during a violent time like this, but the scars that this woman had acquired were unlike anything Dom had seen. There were many of them, and they all ran down her back, each about one inch thick. Dom swallowed hard as he remembered a former squad mate of his donning similar scars

"Marcus!" Dom yelled toward his friend, "Have you seen the scars on her back?"

Dom watched Marcus's eyes widen as he observed the destroyed back of the woman, "Their just like Tai's." The medic finished up her stitches before moving out of the way for Cole and Baird to look at the scars.

"Damn, do you think she was taken prisoner by the locust?" Cole questioned the other gears with a wide eyed expression.

"It looks that way," Marcus said, still staring at her back.

"Are the locust still taking prisoners even after we flooded them out of their tunnels? How old are her scars?" Baird asked the medic.

As Dom traced one of the scars with his finger, her eyes shot open and she gasped. She stared at the four large men surrounding her with intense fear in her eyes. The men all backed up and attempted their best not to be threatening. She sat up and held her shirt to her chest, panting heavily.

"It's okay we're not going to hurt you. We're gears and we are taking you back to our base so you can receive medical attention," Marcus said handing the woman her coat, "Do you remember anything that happened before you collapsed?"

The woman looked at Dom, then nodded at Marcus.

"What's your name?"

The woman answered in a small voice, "Dani."

"Okay Dani, we're almost at the base." Marcus told the woman. She stared back at him, before turning around putting her shirt on.

"Remind me why we're helping this stranded girl?" Baird asked the other members of the squad.

"Oh come on Damon baby, would it kill you to help out some stranded? She did save Dom from a wretch," Cole said to Baird.

"With a shotgun she stole from us," Baird replied.

"She might know something about the transmission we received," Marcus told the blonde gear.

"The thing that confuses me is that no life forms have been spotted in Cadivus for years, and the one day we arrive, we find a human and locust," Dom said, "Was that just a huge coincidence or is there something we don't know?"

"Damn this is sketch," Cole said quietly. The rest of the helicopter ride was spent in silence while the gears thought over everything that had happened that day. Every now and then one of them would quickly glace at Dani, who was staring into space and taking no notice of them. Each time one of them moved, she would flinch slightly and they would look at each other with confusion. Dom wondered why a girl who was so determined to run into battle and kill locusts, seemed so afraid of human beings. His mind raced as he attempted to think of possibilities for her behaviour.

The King Raven had finally arrived at Anvil Gate, just as the sun was preparing to go down. The four Gears immediately got off the helicopter, glad to have returned from the depressing grey world they had entered earlier that day. Dani got off the helicopter slowly and carefully, afraid that her stitches would re open, and followed the gears, keeping several metres between them. She crossed her arms across her chest and looked around at the people who were staring at her. Her heart began racing and she started walking faster, her eyes darting toward all of the people who were watching her. She wasn't watching where she was going, and accidentally walked into Dom, who had stopped to talk someone.

"Sorry," she muttered as she held her side where the stitches were and walked around him.

"I'll catch up with you later Andrews," Dom said to the other person before he caught up to Dani "Thanks," he told her with a weak smile.

"For what?" She asked him in her small voice, refusing to look at him.

"For saving me from that wretch."

"You're welcome," she said as she raised her head, her hazel eyes staring into his own, "Thank you for saving me."

"You're welcome," he replied, his smile becoming bigger. As she looked away from him, Dom saw a small smile creep up onto her face for few seconds. They walked into the building together and were bombarded with looks of amazement from the other members of the squad. The girl that seemed to fear any contact with human beings, was walking close to Dom's side. Colonel Hoffman and Bernadette Mataki came over to the gears and watched as Dom stood behind the woman in a protective manner. Marcus debriefed the two older soldiers on everything that had happened at Cadivus, and watched as their faces showed intense confusion. They had expected contact from either humans or locust, but not both at the same time.

Hoffman looked at Marcus and asked, "No lambent?"

"No, just locust."

"We've heard rumours that all the Locust that survived the floods have been living above ground as savages. Maybe that could explain why they were there," Hoffman suggested.

As Marcus and Hoffman talked, Dani noticed her vision going blurry. A ringing noise in her ears grew louder with each second and became deafening. The ground beneath her was shaking and her legs couldn't hold her weight any longer. She fell to the cold floor and felt as if she was suffocating.

Then blackness.

Sorry it's not the most interesting chapter, I tried my hardest to make it as interesting as possible. Please leave reviews :)